Iwata: Wii U being first next-gen system “is not important”

Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata has shared his belief that the Wii U being the first in the wave of next-generation systems “is not important at all.”

“Being first in the next generation race is not important at all,” he told Gamasutra. “One of the reasons we believe this is the time for Nintendo to launch the Wii U is it’s going to be important for the world.

“Our intention is to return to profitability after just one year of losing money. I just cannot say that it’s a good thing for Nintendo at all to record an annual loss for two or more years in a row.

“The [loss of the] past year is due to the 3DS hardware sales. We were selling hardware below the cost, so this year we are already recovering and improving the profitability of the 3DS.”

The Wii U has received criticism for seemingly positioning itself similarly to that of the Wii, in that it will fail to compete on a technical level to that of Sony and Microsoft’s successor systems to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

“Even when we were going to launch the Wii system, there were a lot of voice saying ‘Nintendo should stop making hardware’,” he added.

“The reasoning behind that was Nintendo would not have any chance against Microsoft and Sony. The fact of the matter was: I did not think Nintendo should compete against these companies with the same message and same entertainment options for people.

“We have not changed our strategy. In other words, we just do not care what kind of ‘more beef’ console Microsoft and Sony might produce in 2013. Our focus is on how we can make our new console different than [others].”

Iwata sees ensuring that the Wii U is priced correctly as being the largest contributor to its success.

“The pricing of Wii U is going to be one of the most important elements when it is going to be launched,” Iwata suggested.

“The environment is different. Wii U is going to be launching in a different environment than when the Wii was launched. Also, the involvement surrounding [mobile and social] businesses is different than several years ago.”

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